Guide

Three women lead parallel lives in ’Rekados’

Eula Valdes, Boots Anson-Roa, and Meryll Soriano share the sweetness and bitterness of life in their latest digital movie.

In this magic-realist tragicomedy, three generations of cooks experience a bitter-sweet life as women whose worth is measured mainly by her skill in cooking.

When director Paolo Herras made his speech before the screening of Rekados, he points out that they were able to create this digital movie with six shooting days and two months of post-production.

In an interview with Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP), the BA Comparative Literature graduate of the University of the Philippines reveals that he wrote the script way back when he was still a student.

“I can’t say the film empowers women… pero it tries to recorrect the concept of how to love,” Paolo says. He also explains the lessons being imparted by the three main characters in the movie. “Kay Josefina (Boots), huwag siyang magpaka-bahay; kay Eula, huwag siyang magpaka-sobra; and kay Meryll, huwag siyang magpadala sa mababaw na pag-ibig.”

She adds: “[In this movie], the traits of one generation skip one generation and go to the third one.” Atavism is, according to the HighBeam Encyclopedia website, “the appearance in an individual of a characteristic not apparent in the preceding generation.”

Scriptwriter and director Paolo agrees, saying, “They lead parallel lives—how they fall in love, how they prepare their dishes are similar to their love stories and their dishes.” As the plot thickens, the viewers are treated to recipes of adobo, kare-kare, dinuguan, and pansit—the dishes that symbolize the affection of the three women.

Rekados is a finalist in the 2006 Cinema One Originals, a contest among seven digital films selected by the cable channel after which it is named. Now on its second year, the film festival ran from November 24-26 at the Indie Sine (Cinema 8) of Robinson’s Galleria.